Hindsight: Twenty Eighty
by Paper-chan
Summary: Madara is dead, but so are a lot of her friends, and Sakura's not sure she can live with that. Fortunately, time-travel seals do exist. Unfortunately, they take a lot of power...and Sakura doesn't have that much chakra.
1. Prolouge

Prologue

_The first thing she remembered was the Why…_

She gently carded her fingers through the over-long blond locks. Her best friend and teammate was utterly still and silent; something she was sure would always be gut wrenchingly, fundamentally long, no matter how long he lay there. Clearing her throat, she told him why she'd come early that week, and her words hung on the air like a confession.

"They asked me to be Hokage, Naruto."

And slowly, and single tear escaped, despite her mantra telling herself to be strong.

Kakashi was gone; overdosing on soldier pills in the battle that finally killed Madara and dying of charka exhaustion afterwards, but he had saved almost every single one of the nin under his command.

Sasuke was alive, and still a missing nin. Not much else was known. And she was still in love with the stupid jerk, and hated herself for it.

Tenzo's chakra was crippled after having been taken by Madara to be used in creating Zetsus.

Lee was dead, after opening all his gates. Sakura couldn't stabilize him in time, despite having practically invented the procedure to do so for exactly this situation.

Sai… wasn't dealing well with PTSD. Root had tried to make him emotionless, but had only left him unable to cope. Currently, he was in psychiatric care.

Ino's ninja career was over after infection had set into her crushed hand. She now ran the family flower shop and made poisons for ANBU.

Shizune was dead. She had participated in the field, despite never having been much of a fighting ninja. The inevitable had happened.

The Hyūga were revolting in the wake of Hiashi's death, and Hinata had barely survived the last assassination attempt thanks to Neji's interference.

Shino had died on the battle field. He had committed all his colonies in a risky hijutsu that did actually work, but had killed almost all of his bugs. Without a colony synched to his chakra signature, the Aburame's symbiotic relationship with the colonies had broken down, and he'd died of chakra poisoning.

Temari had been shot out of the sky by Deidara, shortly after Chōji's food pills had killed him on the battle field, and Shikamaru, grieving both his girlfriend and best friend, had taken a hermit's license and disappeared, leaving the Nara clan in an uproar. Gaarra and Kankuro kept working as the leaders of Suna and the Puppet Corps respectively, trying to bury themselves in the emotionally inept way all the sand siblings had.

The list went on and on, till Sakura couldn't even count the cost of the war, and ultimately ended in her worn and broken sensei, Tsunade, who was terribly old and terribly tired. Sakura couldn't see how she could justify refusing the hat, but right now, it seemed like one more burden than she could take.

"Naruto, this really, really sucks." She whispered.

She wanted him to him to hug her, to make her laugh, to say something unbelievably stupid and inappropriate. He just lay there looking small and lifeless.

Finally, she left the hospital and headed straight for the largest stash of booze she knew of; the Hokage's office.

_Next, she remembered the What…_

She was a few bottles past sober when she finally gave up bloodying her knuckle's on Tsunade's punching wall, and started crying to the desk about how worthless she was, and how she just wanted to stab her eyes out whenever she thought of the selfish, careless girl she used to be.

"I just wish I knew then what I do now. Maybe everything wouldn't have turned out so badly. I wish I could do it over…" She sobbed, before abruptly straightening as though struck. She fumbled her way into the Hokage's vault and woke up with a monstrous hangover, and a theoretical discourse on time-space seals by Namikaze Minato spread across her lap.

_Then, the How…_

She spent the next three years mastering the contents of the scroll. It was pure genius, something she unequivocally recognized once she knew enough about seals to do so. Interestingly, even though only one was listed, the scroll seemed to have two authors. Sometimes the language would change just slightly. That, however, wasn't Sakura's concern. Her chakra reserves were.

The first thing she learned about pure time seals, especially large-scale ones (i.e. ones spanning an amount of time greater than 70 minutes,) was the obscene amount of power they took. A Jinchuuriki would have been able to send their memories, and several others besides, but Sakura couldn't. So she burned soldier pills and emptied every crumb of chakra she could spare into special storage seals for months on end. Then she took a break from mapping the time continuum to whip out a few amplifying seals.

She estimated that she still wouldn't be able to send back much, and if she used any more chakra she would lose control and the jutsu would fail. But she couldn't lose hope now, and she thought it would be enough to make a difference.

Finally, she was ready. Late one night she walked to team 7's bridge, as she still called it, despite the team's fate. She painted the ground and her skin in the graceful, curling array she had spent years learning. The one seal that promised a chance to change everything. After one last shaky breath, she started forming the long train of hand seals. Her fingers flew swiftly in well-practiced patterns, and for a moment, she wondered inanely if it would hurt. Then the seal activated, drinking away her chakra at an incredible pace. She triggered the storage and amplifier seals and carefully poured the power in. Her coils strained at the surge of energy, but her delicate control never faltered. It seemed to last for an eternity, until the seal swallowed her last life-spark of chakra, and her soul tore loose, hurtling through the unknowable infinite stretch of time. Finally, she came to her destination; the exact same place on a little red bridge, and merged with the identical soul of a nine year-old roseate, green-eyed girl.

_Then, she woke up…_


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sakura's viridian eyes blinked open, only to slam shut again when encountered by the harsh white light of the hospital.

"Mom?" She croaked. '_How did I get in the hospital?'_ She wondered, half-lifting a hand before letting it flop back to the covers. '_Ugh. I feel so WEAK.'_ Instinctively she rotated her chakra though her body, letting it sooth her pains. She felt…off. Her chakra felt blocky and clumsy, but at the same time, it was smoother and more tightly controlled than it had ever been. Her body felt sleepy, but otherwise normal, yet, Sakura realized with an undercurrent of horror, she was _soft _and _squishy!_

Belatedly, she realized that this intense self-awareness was unusual as well.

"What…happened?"

"You collapsed, kid." A professional voice informed her, in the briskly sympathetic way she knew so well. "You've been in and out of consciousness for five days. I believe one of the doctors sent your mother home after she had an anxiety attack."

"Mmmm…. Mom… shouldn't 've come to a hospital…she didn't need to… 's she okay?" Sakura struggled against the drowsiness that fought to swallow her again. "'M tired."

"I'm sure your mom is fine, go ahead and sleep."

"Right, right… umm, over my heart… chakra feels wrong. Blocked… fix, please?" She asked, cracking an eyelid to peer at him. The nurse raised his eyebrows as Sakura lapsed into silence. Gently prodding her coils with his chakra, he was impressed to find that several of the clogs and kinks in her chakra system that had so baffled the doctors were clearing up as the girl forcibly rotated her chakra, and the only truly significant one left was located over her heart. After a few deft twists of his own chakra, it came unstopped and the network started flowing normally again. The girl sighed contentedly.

"You've got good instincts kid. Pretty good control too." The man complimented. "Have you thought about being a medic? We can always use another one."

"Hmm? Oh yeah…sounds like a good idea…" the girl muttered, before giving a jaw-cracking yawn.

Sakura's eyes had closed, but she could hear his voice lilting up in amusement. "Go to sleep kid. You'll be feeling better soon."

She didn't. Oh, her chakra was perfectly normal, and her body whole and healthy. But Sakura felt distinctly uncomfortable as she followed her mother home from the hospital. Her favorite red dress constricted her movements too much, and an enemy could grab the train. She could SEE all the trained shinobi moving though the crowds; feel their split second scrutiny before they dismissed her as a threat. It made her angry, but she knew it was true. If she decided to attack, any one of them could destroy her in seconds. She quietly resolved for the hundredth time since waking up to devote more time to her physical training. That would please her mother; she always said that if you decided to do something, no matter what, you should be the best.

_**Probably why she's got a hand in half the smuggling operations in Fire Country.**_

Sakura stopped dead at the gate of their modest house, poleaxed by the last thought.

_What the heck, Inner! Where did that come from? _She demanded silently.

…_**I really don't know. But… it kind of makes sense.**_

_What? No it doesn't!_

Her mother unlocked the door and glanced back at her little girl, who was standing by the gate with little frown. Her dark eyes narrowed sharply. "Kura-kun? Are you alright?" _If those doctors missed something…_ but to her relief, her precious little girl just shook her head, lifted her chin and smiled.

_We'll talk about this later._ Sakura vowed, getting a mental eye-roll from herself in response.

"Coming, Mom!"

After dinner, Sakura excused herself to the library. Perhaps she wanted something light to read while she took it easy for a few days after her collapse, Haruno Asami reflected, tucking her roseate hair into a messy ponytail.

xxxxx

Sakura loved the library. Her near-photographic memory meant that she'd quickly exhausted all the books in her home, and the building itself was a quiet haven from the teasing she'd often endured. Of course, that also meant she'd been coming here less often since she'd met Ino.

_Maybe that's why I feel nostalgic…_

She found herself in front of the medical texts. The smallest one was as thick as her densest academy text book. Opening it curiously, she found it full of long, nonsensical-sounding words, and complicated charts.

_What am I doing? It would take years just to become barely proficient! We'd be better off studying something else!_

_**No. If it will take years, we better get started then. We aren't stupid. We aren't weak. We don't run from challenges. We aren't USELESS. Got it?**_

Useless.

The loathing and anger the word brought up was as shocking and alien as it was authentic. She felt her whiny protests die and an iron resolve cement its self. Suddenly, she felt better. More like herself; a small part of the uncomfortable duality she had tried to ignore since waking up had vanished. She reached up and grabbed a hefty tome

_Right. Basic Chakra & Anatomy, here we come. Shannaro!_


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ino sauntered towards the training grounds, looking for Sakura. The library had been a bust, and her mom had said that the only other place she seemed to be nowadays was here.

'_She must've been really bored with me gone!' _ the blonde thought cheerily, forcefully stopping herself from thinking about how sad Haruno-san had looked when she told her that.

"_I hope you and Kura-kun can have a nice long talk…"_

Ugh! Not going to think about it! She'd been training in the family techniques ever since the academy let out for the break, and she wanted a rest. And having a rest meant no psycho-analyzing your best friend's mom.

"I'm sure Sakura-chan's fine. She's probably just got stuff she can't talk to her mom about, and everybody's over reacting." Somehow, saying it out loud made it less convincing.

'_If they're not… if she really…'_

"Anyway, I've got to find her first." And then she very firmly stopped thinking about it.

xxxxx

Her form was good; she _knew_ her form was good. It just wasn't great. She lacked elegance and power, and she dearly wanted both. She was adequate and she wanted to be extraordinary. The training regime she had carefully set up was working, but she wanted it to be working better and faster. She was tired of feeling like she'd pulled her skin on wrong, and of knowing things she shouldn't. Just little things, like the hollow seats on the carts of the traders who frequently stopped by for lunch at, and how to recognize functions of the most basic seals when they hadn't even touched on fūinjutsu in the academy yet.

And she was so, so sick of it.

She threw textbook perfect punches that didn't even dent the wood over and over again and ground her teeth.

_I'm more than I've ever been_

_**But still so much less than I feel I should be.**_

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Looking good!"

All in all, it wasn't much of a surprise when hearing Ino's greeting caused her to burst into tears.

xxxxx

Okay, so no one was over-reacting. This was not normal Sakura-behavior. The sobs shook her entire body as she slammed her bloodied knuckles into the ground and screamed between clenched teeth. Sakura…didn't get angry. Not like this. Just quick, mostly harmless flashes, like fireworks. Not this helpless, festering rage.

Ino rushed over and embraced her green-eyed friend, patting her soothingly on the back and reciting a litany of phrases like "It's okay" and "you're alright" till she calmed down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sakura stared at her hands before finally looking up into the blonde's eyes. (Ino couldn't help a little inward wince; the girl looked terrible.)

"I hate my hair long." The words came out flat and unexpected. "The thing is Ino-chan, my hair has never _been_ long. So how do I know I hate it? And how do I know that my mom's involved is all sorts of smuggling operations and that the reason she's terrified of hospitals is because they remind her of being trapped in the rubble with my Dad's body during the Kyuubi attack, and that you really, really like Sasuke-kun." And then Sakura made this sort of hiccup-slash-sob-slash-laugh noise. "And I know you know that I like him too. But that's okay. Because I also know he's never going to love me back; he's way too broken to have a stable relationship, and all he wants to do is forget. And Ino-chan? I really, really don't know how I know all of this."

"I just collapsed one day, walking across that red bridge, and spent five days asleep in the hospital. When I woke up everything was wrong. I hate my clothes, I can't remember things I feel like I should know, and I have dreams I can only half remember, and my bad habit of talking to myself has gotten way worse, and I kind of think I'm going crazy."

The two sat in silence for a while, broken only by Sakura's sniffles.

Finally Ino spoke. "Wow. That's a lot to take in."

"So…" Sakura shrunk as if anticipating a blow.

"So what can I do to help?" the blue eyed girl replied with a wink. "After, all that's what friends are for, ne?"

She had anticipated that Sakura needed comfort and acceptance; she hadn't anticipated the tackle-glomp.

"J-just be there. And let me talk to you. That's all. I don't need anything else."

Ino's eyes softened as she patted the pink head buried in her shoulder, and gave a little laugh. "Oh no, that won't do at all, Sakura-chan. You need some retail therapy. New hair! New wardrobe! And maybe a journal to write down what you're trying to remember. Because I'll always be there for you Sakura, but maybe I won't be enough sometimes, and I don't ever want you to be this hurt again."

And she gave the roseate girl a tight squeeze before releasing the hug, and punched a fist in the air. "Shopping, here we come!"

It was good to hear Sakura laugh.


	4. Chapter 3

Hindsight 20/80

Chapter 3

Umino Iruka was known for two things in the general shinobi community: being good at his job, and _liking_ it. (Though if you counted the rumors of mysterious pranks and cruddy missions that befell those who turned in a sloppy mission report late, Umino Iruka was known for three things.)

It was all well and good to take on a genin team (it had to happen to every jounin some time, right?) but pounding the basics into 20-plus hyperactive terrors at a time was a mission most nin wouldn't touch with a twelve-foot pole-arm. And while the scarred brunet would be the first to admit that most of his hospital visits came about from inexpertly wielded and inexplicably sharp wooden kunai, he had to admit, he honestly enjoyed his work every day… well, almost every day. He was a childhood troublemaker himself, and knew all the tricks; unfortunately, some of the children, (i.e. Naruto,) chose to view this as a challenge rather than a deterrent.

Amongst the academy teachers, he enjoyed a slightly different reputation. He was fair, handled troublemakers well, was good at his job, and liked it.

It was almost certainly these qualities that had landed him in a class stuffed full of clan heirs, an endangered bloodline, and a rambunctious Jinchuuriki pariah.

It was not an enviable position. Ninja were not above kidnapping children to fulfill their purposes, and his charges' political and military power was an attractive target. Iruka preferred kidnappers over parent-teacher conferences though; you could stab kidnappers, but not angry clan heads, accustomed to having their own way.

However, he did his best to pay as much attention to the first and second generation ninja-hopefuls as he did those coming from august shinobi clans. Unfortunately, it was true that the quiet, well-behaved students with adequate marks tended to slip towards the bottom of the priority pile. This fact featured prominently in the teacher's musings on whether or not he'd overlooked the signs of an impending mental breakdown in one Haruno Sakura.

He understood that she'd suffered some sort of mysterious collapse over the break. The medics, though baffled, had pronounced her to be in perfect health, as had two chakra specialists, and the academy nurse. However, no one had conducted a mental assessment, and Iruka was worried.

Sakura had withdrawn from the tentative friendships she'd been forming last year, and was friendly only with Ino. She studied thick anatomy textbooks during lunch, and exercised with a sort of furious determination after school. She frequently scribbled in a fat grey notebook she'd decorated with a stylized cherry blossom enclosed within a white circle. He'd confiscated it once when she had completely neglected the history lecture he had been giving in favor of writing, earning himself a potent death glare from the Yamanaka girl. Sakura herself had meekly surrendered it, and grown progressively twitchy and high-strung as the day progressed, culminating in a near-stabbing of the Aburame heir when he'd ghosted up behind her in weapon's practice.

The contents of the notebook (for of _course_ Iruka had peeked; ninjas were nosy,) were mostly rough sketches, meandering dream snippets, and strange, cryptic phrases in complicated classifications and cross-references.

"Lessons from Forest-man and Mountain-queen;"

"Red& Black Monsters making Sky-one burn;"

"Midnight-boy stolen by Serpent-tongue."

He was inclined to ask a profiler's opinion on it, but after the desperate, miserable look in Sakura's green eyes, he didn't have the heart to keep it from her.

Nevertheless, he quietly resolved to keep a closer eye on the roseate girl in the future.

One of the patterns emerging in Iruka's observations of Sakura over the next year was who she thought was worth fighting and who she respected, whether in training or theory exercises.

Most of the class fell below her notice, though she gradually became more cheerful and extroverted, forming amiable acquaintances of most of the class. She became freer with her opinions, though carefully never crossing the line into outright rudeness, however much she seemed to skirt the line with Mizuki-sensei, whom she had developed an intense dislike towards. Iruka thought this might have something to do with the taijutsu teacher's repeated admonitions to stop throwing haymakers and jabs when her body-type was much, much he -could-not-stress-this-enough-just-_ listen_-to-me more suited to long-range fights or using the opponents strength against them. The green-eyed girl would stand mute through his lectures, glaring more often than not, and then promptly resume punching out her opponents. (It was with no small amount of relief that Iruka privately noticed that Sakura had started mixing pressure points attacks and throws, along with a few admirably sneaky substitutions when ninjustu was allowed, in with her punches; the pink-haired girl really was too slight to rely solely on straight-forward kicks and punches.)

Some of the friendships she formed weren't entirely unexpected; Ino was her best friend, and everyone knew about how strong the ties between the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi were; Ino had practically been raised with Shikamaru and Chōji. Thus, Sakura making friends with them as well wasn't too startling. What _was_ surprising was the way Sakura regarded the duo. Sakura, a girl with a highly intelligent mind under those deceptive pink locks, went out of her way to be paired with the decidedly average Nara in tactics exercises, something the boy found "troublesome." (That by its self wasn't very significant; sometimes it seemed Shikamaru found breathing troublesome.) Iruka toyed with the idea that she simply had a crush on him, but her inevitable flush whenever she attracted Sasuke's attention and her flustered, feigned diligence afterward convinced him otherwise. She was also just as careful to never be teamed with the lazy boy on any practical exercises, preferring his Akimichi friend. Sakura seemed to have perfect faith that Chōji would watch her back, that his capabilities were exactly what he said they were, and she committed to her assignments without hesitation. It was a rather unusual trait to find in a shinobi who hadn't had extensive experience with the clan; most of the civilian-born tended to see an Akimichi's bulk and mistake it for softness and incompetence, despite all the warnings and stories. Sakura…didn't. Interesting.

The others she reached out to were surprising. Aburame Shino, considered creepy by most his classmates, and downright abhorrent by the majority of the girls, seemed to have become rather kindly disposed towards the girl after her gift of "Intimidation Tactics and Aggressive Psychology; By Morino Ibiki" as an apology for the stabbing incident. The quiet boy seemed surprisingly taken with it, and had begun occasionally exchanging books with Sakura, often discussing them afterwards, a practice that once devolved into a vicious argument about-as best he could tell- the Aburame clan policies concerning what kinds of medical care could be handled by non-clan doctors. The fight only ended when lunch did, and the two didn't speak for a week-and-a-half, when Sakura finally broke down and apologized for criticizing his clan. He gracefully accepted, and returned that if his statements were perceived as a slight to the medical profession, he apologized as well. Iruka judiciously noted he didn't apologize for the statements themselves: apparently the Aburame boy held grudges. The brunet man found this oddly hilarious.

The situation with Kiba was weird, and equally amusing. The boy had made the mistake of mocking Sakura's enthusiasm for becoming a medic-nin one day, visibly entertained at her ire. Sakura's revenge was implacable and subtle. She consulted someone—and Iruka would be very interested to find out who the mysterious source was—about the most likely team formations post graduation, and had declared Kiba the best possible medic on his, as Shino, a growing Aburame, wouldn't be able to spare the chakra, and Hyuuga Hinata's chakra had been too thoroughly trained in disrupting foreign chakra systems for her to safely practice iryō ninjutsu anytime soon. Any day that Kiba skipped (a good half of the time) would find Sakura hunting him down after school, and forcing him through mysterious means to learn anatomy, first-aid, and practice the beginning stages of healing techniques-which involved a lot of fish if Kiba's moans about the smell was anything to go by. Kiba's need to annihilate his tormentor was restrained only because Akamaru liked her. His mother also approved in her ferocious way, though making an uncomfortable number of jokes about girlfriends and pink-haired grandpups, and his sister Hana was almost disturbingly enthusiastic about Kiba learning her trade, often dragging him away after class to the clan veterinary clinic. Thus outnumbered, the wild boy glumly submitted to Sakura's self-proclaimed mission to "Make you into a half-decent medic if I have to **kill you**, _Shannero_!" (Iruka was fairly certain Kiba was exaggerating when he said Sakura was literally on fire when she said this.)

By the end of the school year, Sakura wasn't writing in her notebook as much during class, and stopped jumping at shadows. She'd made more friends, and was interacting with them on a regular basis. Whatever demon had been haunting her, she seemed to have overcome it, and gained a new passion for self-improvement. Gratefully, Iruka mentally moved the Haruno girl out of the "possibly unstable category." It was, he reflected, always nice when your students were sane.

When he looked back on things, He decided he should have waited on that decision until next year.

xxxxx

Sakura sighed heavily, dragging the toe of her lovely new black boots across the schoolroom floor, tracing the wood grain. She sort of understood why Naruto never came to the first day of class now. It hadn't even started, and she already felt fidgety. Nothing interesting was happening, or likely to happen. After a whole summer of hard physical training all morning, then intensive study and chakra control training all afternoon, sitting and being talked at didn't exactly sound fun. Ino, who had joined her daily exertions, was working off her energy via socializing.

Her blonde friend slid into her seat on the bench beside her moments before Iruka-sensei called the room to order, hitting Kiba with a piece of chalk when the boisterous boy ignored him. Sakura couldn't help but admire Ino's talent for reading a room. Part of it was her clan training of course, but it couldn't be denied she had an instinct for it.

Ino nudged her with an elbow, speaking under her breath. "Get this; some of the other girls started a Sasuke fan-club over the summer."

Sakura drug her boot toe in a circle, concentrating fixedly on the motion as her thoughts whirled. An eternal second later, she glanced at her friend, raising a pink brow. "Really?"

Ino nodded vigorously in response, and Sakura returned her gaze to her boots. A Sasuke Fan-Club? She slid her eyes over to the brooding boy in the corner. He always tried to minimize the number of people close to him, as if pained by proximity. Her chest hurt, as the now-familiar pang of shamed love washed through her. Such an obviously unwanted fan-club, filled with detested admirers seemed the direst humiliation in the world at the moment. Unsure how to express this, she settled for whispering "Sasuke-kun sure won't like that," before turning her attention to Iruka's instructions about the beginning-of-the-year placement tests taking place this week; a boring, but useful distraction.

She didn't like thinking about the midnight-boy.

"What's so terrible about liking him? He's talented and cute and cool, he's the last of an important ninja family, and lots of girls like him." Ino, tactfully not mentioning her own crush on the brunet, asked from her precarious seat on the porch railing. "You're acting like you've committed a crime by crushing on him."

"Keep it down!" Sakura hissed vehemently, prodding a game piece into place as she spoke.

Ino rolled her eyes but lowered her voice. "We weren't even using names, and it's not like anyone with a modicum of training can't figure it out any way. So why are you so freaked out?"

The green-eyed girl screwed up her face in a fearsome scowl. "I don't know. I just _am_. He's hurt me before, in the dreams." This last was whispered even more softly, and then she returned to a more normal register "Now stop distracting me."

"Doesn't matter, I'm about to win anyway. And you need to stop letting that notebook control your reactions." Shikamaru countered, setting down his go piece, earning a dirty look from the Haruno.

"Thank you, Shikamaru. I'm supposed to be learning how to notice these things myself, you know."

"If your endgame was more interesting, I wouldn't tell you." The lazy boy replied in a reasonable tone. Sakura threw up her hands in frustration.

"Well, at least it took you more than 20 moves to beat me this time." She pouted.

"I think Shika's right." Chōji piped up unexpectedly as he polished off his weighty lunch. "You're doing better about not obsessing over it, but the notebook stuff still makes you respond really weirdly sometimes. Like when Naruto asked you out and you cried for an hour. You make him nervous now."

It had been a nasty shock to Sakura when Shikamaru had casually informed her after class one day that he knew about the notebook. Of course, he didn't know quite everything. Dreams about your future-self constructing a seal to rip out your soul and send it back though time were a bit beyond even Shikamaru's ability to deduce, but he had figured a startling amount out. Of course, he'd already told Chōji, who had been the one to insist that it was rude not to tell a friend that you knew about their bizarre, spontaneous PTSD. Sakura had been more than a little uncomfortable with others knowing, but as Ino said, the boys were practically her brothers. They could be trusted.

"I didn't mean to be nasty to Naruto." She muttered, shamefaced. "He has enough crap in his life."

"That's another thing; anything remotely related to Naruto or Sasuke and you freak out because of stuff that happened in the dreams, but you knew us then too, so why don't we provoke the same reaction?" Ino asked as she swung her feet idly.

"I'm not sure. I think I have fewer… issues with you in general. Our team was just really, really screwed up. If I could remember things clearly, more than bits and pieces, maybe I would understand. " The roseate girl admitted reluctantly. "It's really hard when I sometimes dream about the dreams, and everything is weird and backwards, but I think I've sorted most of those out."

"Well, it's more than likely history will repeat its self where team placements are concerned." Shikamaru remarked casually, stowing away the game board. "And you seem pretty certain about the groups. You need to find some sort of stability concerning Uzumaki and Uchiha, or you won't be able to be a good member of your squad."

Sakura flinched like she's been slapped, and Ino raised an expressive eyebrow. "Below the belt much, Shika?" The blonde warned.

"No, he's right." Sakura recovered. "I-I'm **not** _useless._ But my emotional problems could compromise my team. I've still got a year left before graduation; I can figure it out by then."

Chōji nodded solemnly, and Ino squeezed her hand in support; even Shikamaru cracked an approving smile. It felt good. Sakura felt her eyes tear up, touched by their care.

After a few moments she cleared her throat. "Thanks guys. Come on, lunch is ending, and we have sparring this afternoon."

Shikamaru flopped backwards limply, and groaned. "So troublesome."

xxxxx

Sakura felt like a tightly wound spring; about to either snap, or spring forward with shocking force. She was definitely looking forward to sparring to release some tension. Shikamaru's words kept replaying in her mind; she did let Naruto and Sasuke freak her out. She just couldn't bear the confusing and powerful emotional fluctuations Naruto and Sasuke always provoked; it was like having the Hokage Monument fall on you: as inexplicable as it was devastating. The root of the problem though, was her lack of substantial interaction with the boys. Almost everything she knew came from the dreams, and the dream-memories were often uncomfortable at best. She needed something real; she needed something to be context for the memories of a world-that-could-have-been. She needed—She needed to stop thinking.

When Iruka finally announced taijutsu practice, she very nearly joined Kiba and Naruto's whooping, and dashed outside only to be stuck bouncing in place until Iruka called her name and match. She endured Fuki against Shikamaru (Very boring; Shika barely even tried before surrendering), a drawn out battle between Kiba and Chōji (which _was_ interesting, lots of ferocious close combat) And Ino's take-down of Ami (viscerally satisfying, but brief) before her turn came.

"Haruno Sakura"

Finally! Sakura sprang forward eagerly—

"And Uchiha Sasuke."

—And nearly fell.

_**Well, you wanted real-life interaction. You should be careful what you wish for! **_ Inner-Sakura reminded.

_Do spars count?_ She questioned, walking to her place nervously.

_**Of course! How you fight says a lot about you, so make this a good one! Kick his butt!**_

Sakura closed her eyes and quickly composed herself, before opening her eyes and making the seal of confrontation. Across from her, the dark-eyed boy responded in kind.

Sakura waited watchfully; Sasuke was brutally fast and an inattentive moment could cost you the match. Her vigilance was rewarded when Sasuke sprang directly towards her, striking at her head. The girl twisted quickly, side-stepping the assault and launching an attack of her own at Sasuke's back as he passed her. She missed by inches.

Sakura's eyes narrowed suspiciously as the two circled each other.

_**That was too easy to dodge. **_

_Agreed_

The petite girl stepped back and propped her fists on her hips, the very picture of adolescent outrage. "Are you going, _easy_ on me Sasuke-kun?" Her tone suggesting that this would be a very bad thing.

Sasuke maintained his usual aloof silence, but Sakura, by way of the dreams, had at least rudimentary knowledge of Sasuke-ese. The faint distain in his eyes, when she had worked so hard, and was giving her everything…there was only one possible reaction.

_**YOU. ARE. DEAD!**_

"_Shannero_!"

Sakura recklessly launched a spinning rage-powered kick towards his midsection, getting caught in a foot trap for her carelessness, vexing the girl. (Of course, in this mood, everything did.)

Lashing out with her other foot, she carefully aimed for the hip, catching herself with her hands as she fell. The unorthodox move earned her freedom, but wrenched her ankle as she twisted loose.

_**That'll limit mobility. **_Inner-Sakura fumed.

_My own personal peanut gallery; how nice. Shut UP!_

_**Calm down and fight **_**smart**_**. We can burn him in effigy later! Just beat his pretty-boy tail NOW!**_

Sakura scrambled back, trying not to limp. Unfortunately, her opponent noted her ankle, and launched a whirlwind attack, breaking through her block and bloodying her nose. Reflexive tears welled up in Sakura's eyes, leaving her unprepared for the jab to the jaw, and leg-sweep that followed.

She crashed to the ground, already rolling, giving her the leverage to break out of Sasuke's attempted submission hold. Hooking her knee around his, Sakura tackled him to the ground with her, frantically grappling for dominance. A fist smashed into her cheek, splitting the skin as she kneed him in the stomach in retaliation…at least, it was supposed to be the stomach.

All the males in the vicinity winced in sympathy—and Ino cackled gleefully. "Way to go, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura struggled loose, shaking her head dazedly, and put the prone Sasuke in an arm-bar.

"It was a cheap-shot, but I'll take it." It took Sakura a moment to realize the sluggish words were hers, and peripherally wondered about concussions and if her training would be affected.

The moment Iruka called the match the weaving pair made their way off to the side. Sasuke, aside from one ignominious blow was unharmed. Sakura was packed off to the academy medic; she only had a sprained ankle, a bloody nose and a split cheek, but it was still more damage than Iruka was used to seeing from the sparing matches, and civilian parents had the most alarming tendency to throw a tantrum every time their precious little assassin skinned their knees. Maybe Iruka was jaded, but he preferred to reserve his alarm for when his kids did something actually dangerous. Kami-sama knows he would've been dead of stress long ago if he didn't.

xxxxx

Sakura was nursing more than her wounds when she returned. The medic on duty at the academy was always nice, (even if she hadn't wormed any iryō ninjustsu out of him yet,) but the fact that the only meaningful blow she'd landed on Sasuke was an accident stung a little.

_**So, what have we concluded from this 'real-life' interaction?**_

"That Sasuke is an arrogant pretty-boy twit who has trouble accepting anyone could ever match his greatness." Sakura growled.

_**More like **_**scared**_** someone's going to surpass him, but yeah. See, how you fight DOES say a lot about you!**_

This brought her up short.

_We really learned all that? _ Thoughts whirled through her pink head, drawing up comparisons of past interactions, even some dream-snippets.

_**I just have to say—We sure can pick them.**_

And I _beat_ him—granted on a single cheap-shot, but _I_ beat _him_….

_He's never going to forgive me._

Sakura felt a wild emotion swelling in her; irrepressible and all-consuming. She had to give in.

She emitted a high-pitched squeal that would have had Akamaru writhing in agony as she bounced up and down gleefully.

"-hahahaha! YES!" She shouted, punching the air. "Man, that felt good!"

It was petty and meaningless, but Sasuke had dismissed and disregarded her at every opportunity, and she was resigned to the fact she couldn't help loving him, and he'd never love her back. But now he knew she existed, and might even respect her someday. Everything was worth it.

"I've got to find Ino and train! This is AWESOME!"

xxxxx

Hindsight 20/80 Omake

Sakura clutched the notebook she had just retrieved from Iruka-sensei to her chest with one hand while the other clamped over her mouth and nose, restricting her breathing in the absence of a handy paper bag. Okay, the journal was a great idea; a brilliant, fantastic, stellar idea. It let her reason out what was happening in the flashes (not flashbacks, because they hadn't happened yet, not flash-forwards, because they probably wouldn't happen again, ergo, just plain flashes) and she didn't get overwhelmed and have mini-breakdowns anymore. Ino had told her about writing things down helping move the thought from the emotional part of the brain to the logical part, and by now Sakura could practically feel the terrified confusion and unexplained emotions ebbing as she wrote. But today had her wondering if she might be a little too dependent on the gray notebook; she hadn't even had any flashes today -except for when Shino had snuck up on her—and she was still this shaken up over losing it. And of course, there was always the fear that someone would find out what it all meant and declare her unstable.

_**I don't think we could manage without it though…**_

_I'm not weak! _

_**Okay, shut up. Seriously, what's the point of getting mad at yourself? All I'm saying is you use a crutch until you can heal, but you have to be careful not to get too dependent on it. **_

At times like these, her Inner really annoyed her. Sakura concentrated on her breathing; it was slowing now. She shakily got to her feet and gave her eyes a surreptitious wipe. "Okay. I'm fine. Training time." And she smiled. Nothing cheered Sakura up like progress, drilling herself into the ground until she couldn't think.

_**That's avoidance.**_

_Shut up._


	5. Chapter 4

Hindsight 20/80

Chapter 4

Sakura spent the rest of the week on cloud nine after beating Sasuke. Her default setting had gone from 'generally pleasant' to 'overly enthused.' Reactions to the change were mixed; Ino thought it was cute, and Shikamaru thought it was troublesome. Kiba agreed with the lazy boy, through rather more vehemently and vocally. Shino and Chōji both fell under the mildly amused category, while Akamaru and Iruka-sensei landed under confused, but willing to let it lie. (Akamaru had dropped the subject after Kiba had explained Sakura had "some weird psycho girly crush on Uchiha," having long ago accepted that nothing on that front made sense when it came to humans. Iruka had left it alone for very nearly the same reasons.)

From Sakura's point of view, everything was stupendous, stellar, maybe even perfect. She jumped ahead on all her projected training curves and had finally managed to prove to Hana-sempai that her medical knowledge was thorough enough and her charka control was good enough to learn a few Iryō Ninjutsu. (As much as she liked and respected the Inuzuka girl, her averseness to teaching an academy student advanced medical techniques never failed to irritate.)

Sakura fairly danced her way home after that pronouncement. Ino, walking next to her, was rather more down to Earth. Her best friend may have been too blissful to notice the glares and cold shoulders, but it would be a dark day indeed when Yamanaka Ino didn't know the score in the social game. The Sasuke fan-club was obviously upset with Sakura's recent assault on their idol, and were making their displeasure known. The fact the roseate-haired girl didn't seem to care, or even _notice, _only added to their ire… and, inevitably, the overspill was hitting Ino.

Ino was surprised to find she didn't care that much either. Of course, the near-universal rejection stung, but it didn't really wound. To tell the truth, her most prevalent feelings on the subject were exasperation and annoyance. So-freakin'-what if Sakura gave the cutest boy their age a kick in the lineage? He deserved it; he wasn't taking Sakura seriously, and it's not like an enemy kunoichi would hesitate to do the same. (Though Ino had it on good authority all the boys were using protective cups now.) Exposing weaknesses like that was the whole point of sparring!

The blonde gave a small sigh, more reflective than weary. Maybe she was suffering from overexposure to Sakura's obsessive drive (the girl seriously needed a hobby,) or maybe she was just growing up. Whatever the cause, Ino was starting to think seriously about her future, and she didn't want any friends who were liable to backstab or abandon her over something as trivial as an unreciprocated crush.

That didn't stop her from being a little lonely.

xxxxx

Ino sighed heavily as she delicately adjusted a stem to show the flower to its best advantage. Then she sighed again and returned it to its former place. If she was to be honest, the elegant arrangement had been perfect for a good ten minutes; her fiddling was pointless.

Her room was clean, her weapons pristine, her training completed, the garden weeded, and Ino was bored, bored, bored, bored. She didn't even have to work in the floral shop today, and yet here she was, looking for anything to do.

"Why don't you go play with Sakura-chan, sweetie?" the blonde's mother suggested as the girl heaved another terrific sigh.

"She's helping out at the Inuzuka clinic today; Hana-san promised to teach her some pain-killer ninjustsu that works inside the brain if Sakura puts in a hundred volunteer hours there. Honestly, I don't know why Hana-san bothers with all the delaying tactics. It's not like Sakura's going to give up because of a little dog-barf." Ino droned, reaching to adjust the bouquet again. "Sakura was chanting 'B-rank, B-rank' all the way home after Hana-san told her."

"Inuzuka Hana is teaching an _academy student_ a B-rank jutsu?"

"It's okay Mom, it has really low charka requirements; it's only a B-rank because of the control required, and you know how insanely perfect Sakura's control is." Ino reassured her alarmed guardian "But the long and the short of it is Sakura's not going to be around for a bit."

"Well, what about your other friends?" her mother gently probed, drawing grimace from Ino.

"The boys are all busy, and all my old girl friends hate me now, remember?"

"Oh, dear. Are they still mad about Sakura-chan's spar with the Uchiha boy?"

"Yep." Ino issued yet another sigh; this one bitter, as she started mangling the bouquet again, making her mother wince.

"Then how about a walk? I hear the Northwest meadow is blooming beautifully, and—" she caught the girl's hand as she moved to adjust the same bloom once more "—I love you, but you're driving me nuts, Sweetie."

"Oh." The young blonde ducked her head sheepishly "I'll do that then; it actually sounds nice."

Having made the decision, all of Ino's restless energy seized upon the idea, and she was banging out the door before five minutes had passed, leaving her relived mother to sweep up the shop and settle in comfortably for a long, slow morning.

She had once read, probably in some book Sakura gave her, that everyone has their own version of heaven; well, Ino had just found hers: lying down in the tall grass, hidden from sight and surrounded by wildflowers. Of course, knowing that her family and village were just a few minutes of light running away was part of the whole heaven package, but right now, she was positively basking in her solitude. One hard thing about reading people was being exposed to some very ugly emotions.

"I wish I had a friend in class besides Sakura—not that she's not great or anything—"she hastened to assure the cloud she was addressing "But I'm just a little lonely. Sakura's so busy, and Shika and Chōji don't count. Shino-kun is really more of Sakura's friend, and Kiba-kun is her victim. But those guys are the only one's who'll talk to me now… Stupid Sasuke Fan Club! Every one of them is obsessed! Boy-obsessed and SELF-obsessed!" The Yamanaka would most certainly have continued her tirade, if not for the tiny gasp from unnervingly close.

Ino catapulted to her feet, a hand already tucked into her weapons pouch, and found herself facing a blushing girl, with a flower-filled basket clutched to her chest as a small, shy smile worked its way onto her face. "H-hello."

"Hello" Ino automatically replied. As the belated remembrance of one girl who didn't like Sasuke blossomed in her mind, a smile of her own appeared.

And then Hyūga Hinata took a deep breath and did the bravest thing she had yet attempted in her young life.

"May I sit down?"

She made a friend.

xxxxxxx

THUD

THUD

THUD

CRRAACK

_**Darn. There goes another one.**_

A sweaty and bedraggled Sakura leaned against the remaining half of the freshly-broken training post, panting heavily. _How did the could-have-been me do it? She could shatter stone, for goodness sakes! It's taken us two weeks to break an ordinary oak log!_

_**Well, our body's been built and strengthened about as much as it can be at this age without causing long term damage …Maybe it's just that she was older?**_

_Nuh-uh; doesn't fit the dreams. It's gotta be something with chakra, but it goes beyond the reinforcing we've been doing. _

…_**Do you ever think it's weird that we refer to ourself as two people sometimes?**_

_Huh. Never really thought about it._

Sakura's reverie was broken by the familiar cheery tones of Ino's greeting "Sakuuura!"

The roseate girl straightened with a groan and multiple pops from her tired back.

"Hey, Ino," running a hand through her disheveled bob, Sakura was mildly embarrassed to note her friend wasn't alone. "And Hinata-chan, too, what a pleasant surprise!"

"Hello, Sakura-chan," came the soft reply, as Hinata's blonde escort made herself comfortable on a convenient rock. "I met Ino-chan while picking flowers today, a-and she invited me along for your evening exercise… I-I hope that's alright?"

Looking at the Hyūga girl's anxious upturned face, her pearly eyes wide and pleading, Sakura found herself wanting to coo over her like a baby bunny, wiggling its adorable nose.

Inner Sakura squealed with glee. _**She's so cute!**_

Outer Sakura simply smiled "Sure! Only I just broke the training post, so we're going to have to spar. Is that okay?" A slight turn of her head included Ino in the question.

"Sure, and the third girl can referee, how's that sound?" Ino responded easily, turning her nearly luminescent smile on her new friend. "Do you and Sakura want to go first, Hinata-chan?"

Sakura looked at Hinata again, and after the girl's affirming nod, cocked her chin, and grinned. "Don't go easy on me."

A startled little giggle escaped Hinata "I think everyone learned from what happened to Uchiha-san."

Sakura's smile picked up a slightly smug, feral edge as she moved into the ready position. The Hyūga's eyes are very difficult to track, so Hinata felt safe in the small rudeness of looking over the girl's shoulder to stare at the training post behind her, and the small heaps of sawdust at its base, and allowed herself a tiny, nervous swallow.

Shifting her gaze back to the girl's calculating eyes and eager grin, Hinata made a quiet, iron-clad resolution.

There was no way she was _ever_ going to let Sakura hit her.

A dozen or so frustrated minutes later, a panting Sakura stepped back, halting her barrage. "Hinata-chan? You can attack any time now. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not particularly relishing the prospect of plugged tenketsu, because I've heard it hurts like no other, but if you never practice attacking you won't gain the experience you need, and then an opponent with superior stamina will just wear you down; you've got a fantastic defense, and I mean really-freaking-fantastic, because holy crap, girl! It's like trying to beat down a wall of wind! But seriously, you need to attack me."

_**Oh, sweet Kami of run-on sentences, you're blabbering. We must be more tired than I thought. We always blabber when we're tired. **_

Hinata, instead of retorting, or taking advantage of her pause to annihilate her, or even just acknowledging the statement and continuing, drooped like a flower in a sandstorm.

"S-s-sor-sorry."

Sakura felt like she'd kicked a puppy. (And not a ninja-puppy, like Akamaru who was capable of defending himself and probably deserved it, but a new-born civilian puppy.) Had she said anything unintentionally harsh? The young kunoichi looked helplessly at Ino.

Ino slid in close to Hinata, hands casually visible and nonthreatening. "Hinata-chan? It's okay, Sakura's a really good medic, even if she can't take the test yet. She can heal up any damage afterwards."

"Unless you explode my heart or something. But I don't think that's a concern if we're just sparring. That's another reason to practice attacking: no accidental overkill."

Ino shot the prattling girl A Look.

"Right, shutting up."

Gently touching her new friend on the shoulder, Ino continued. "And you're doing really well at your defense. Sakura was just suggesting that you try attacking, since she's not providing much of a challenge."

"Also, I'm a little worn-out, and I tend to jabber on and on when—right, shutting up again."

"I-I'm just n-not m-m-m-much good at taijutsu." Hinata whispered to her furiously twiddling fingers once it became clear no one else was going to fill the expectant silence.

"That's ridiculous." Sakura stated firmly. Ino didn't glare at her this time, so she kept talking. "Hinata-chan, when you move it's so smooth and fluid and controlled and beautiful and powerful I start wishing I could paint or something just to try and capture it. You're amazing at taijutsu."

_**We said the beautiful bit out loud. **_

_Shush you._

Hinata peeked up through her bangs as her hands fisted in her baggy beige sweater. "B-but Father says I'm unb-ba-balanced."

"Huh? Does he mean like balance-balance, or philosophically?" Ino asked, cocking her head to the side. "Because your physical balance is impeccable, it's just your reluctance to attack that's the problem."

Hinata's eyes squeezed shut as she forced herself to respond. "I d-d-don-don't like h-hurting people."

What could Ino say to that? 'You're in the wrong line of work?' Hinata was the heiress of a very powerful ninja clan, and (according to her father) the Hyūga were built on impossibly tangled politics. It's not like she had much of a choice.

So the three stood in silence for a long moment, before Sakura let out a long breath and affixed her eyes firmly on the sky.

"I try not to think of it that way. I mean, I'm not particularly a sadist myself, it's just…Well, we're ninjas, or ninjas in training at least, and most of our friends and family are ninjas too. And it's an ugly world sometimes. So I fight to protect them. I get stronger so they'll be safer. And you can be strong, Hinata-chan. You _are_ strong. You just need to find your strength." She pried her eyes off the skies and gave an awkward chuckle. "I guess that sounds pretty cheesy."

"No, no!" Hinata assured her earnestly. "It was… it was lovely." Sakura ducked her head bashfully to hide her unexpected blush. Ino took this has her prompt to pick up the conversation ball.

"Well then. I guess the real question is who do you want to protect?" She gently encouraged.

Hinata steeled herself against the weighty task of baring her soul, and barely stuttered. "M-my clan, um, the village and my allies…my little sister."

"All right, we can work with that. Her name's Hanabi, right?" Ino paused for Hinata's confirming nod then charged ahead. Hopefully this wouldn't blow up in their faces. "You just need to pretend that someone's here to hurt her. And you have to stop them. Sakura?"

Sakura obligingly took her cue. "Out of my way, little girl! I must complete my mission, and also kick some puppies on my way out! Grrr."

Ino's 'Look' was back.

"What? I'm supposed to be evil." The Haruno girl defended.

"Whatever. After this, you're going to bed Sakura. You only get like this when you're running on way too little sleep." Sakura grumbled, but nodded her acquiescence, so the blonde continued. "Okay, Hinata-chan, don't kill her too hard; we'll need to interrogate her, or something."

"Right." The Hyūga was wearing a peculiar sort of expression. There was a little half-smile at her new friend's antics, but also kind of an awed wonder, but mostly a deep, fierce determination.

Sakura put up a good fight—for twelve whole seconds. Clearly, nobody was going to hurt Hanabi on Hinata's watch.

"Okay… That was awesome. And I hurt." Sakura gasped painfully. "I wanna go home now."

"Sheesh. Hinata-chan, help me with this goof, will you? Hey, how'd you get around that two-strike combo of hers?"

xxxxx

Sakura's mother apparently ran a modest lodging house, with simple, sturdy furnishings, tidy, attractive and clean. Hinata would have found it all very pleasant and inoffensive if not for the dozens tiny green apples hurtling wildly through the air.

"Oh, poo; Aito-oji-san and Daichi-oji-san are fighting again." Sakura rubbed her tired eyes as she contemplated the chaotic common-room. The main fruit lobbers stood about half a room apart, snatching more ammunition from wide wooden bowls and shouting invective at each other. A few other men were watching with mild interest, and occasionally threw some produce themselves, but in general, everyone acted as though this was typical behavior and ignored the quarreling pair.

"Y-your family throws _apples_ at each other?" Hinata's voice squeeked.

"Only baka-apples. Kane-oji-san threw a golden delicious once and I tell you, heads rolled."

"You weren't even born when he did that and you're freaking poor Hinata-chan out." Ino scolded her drowsy friend. "Get us to the kitchen already."

"Right, right. HEY! I HAVE GUESTS! THIRTY-SECOND CEASEFIRE!"

The rain of apples abruptly slacked off and Sakura and Ino hustled her across the room and through an open door into a warm, bright kitchen, where a mid-aged woman with peachy-pink hair waited to sweep up Hinata's own rosy-headed companion in a hug. (Hinata was vaguely aware of the patter of falling fruit as the battle resumed behind them.)

"Kura-kun! You're home! Who's your new friend? Hello, Ino-chan."

"Hey Mom, This is Hyūga Hinata. Hinata-chan, this is my mom, Haruno Asami."

Hinata instantly executed a flawless formal bow. Sakura was impressed. "I'm p-pleased to meet you Haruno-san."

"Well aren't you just too lovely for words; I'm please to meet you too, Hyūga-chan. Why don't you all take a seat and I'll get all of you something to drink."

Hinata took the indicated seat, while Ino slid onto the bench beside her. Sakura plopped onto the bench on the opposite side, resting her head on the table. After a moment she lifted her head again, this time propping it on a fist.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, I think my tenketsu are reopening."

"Yes, it's probably been long enough now. Does it feel like buzzing or burning?"

"Buzzing."

"Oh, that's good." Hinata hesitated a moment before enquiring; "Sakura-chan? What are baka-apples?"

Ino snickered. "Yes Sakura, tell her about the fearsome flying fruit."

Sakura tossed her friend a half-hearted glare, "Well, when Haruno House was built, during the Second Hokage's tenure I think, My great-grandfather planted an apple tree in the back garden; he was very of apples, you see. Unfortunately, every apple off the tree was small, woody, bitter and sour-seriously, they're disgusting-it was a very pretty tree though, and Great-grandmother liked it, so he decided not to cut it down. But the apples still had to be picked up because they'd rot all over the yard once they fell, So grandpa and his brothers had to pick them all up. There was a lot of apples, because the tree apparently decided to make up for its appalling flavor with numbers. Boys being boys, they always threw them at each other in mock wars. A couple years later, Great-grandmother was throwing a hissy fit over having her tables broken again, because fights break out _all _the time around here, so Great-grandfather looked out the window, saw the boy's playing, got inspired, and decreed that throwing baka-apples was now the only form of combat permitted inside the house. There are bowls of 'em all over the place, and we pick them and store them away every Fall for the express purpose of throwing them at annoying people, because, really, what else are we gonna do with them?" Sakura sucked in greedy breath.

_**Wow, want to stuff a few **__**more**__** run-on sentences in there? **_

Ignoring her inner peanut-gallery, Sakura shrugged and continued. "There are some rules and stuff to it, but as long as you pick up afterwards and don't throw any in the kitchen, it's really not a big deal. Way less weird than the Yamanaka's sending insulting bouquets when they're ticked."

"It's perfectly reasonable!" Ino fussed. "You get to vent your frustration at the person in question, and the arranging calms and focuses you."

"But you send them flowers! That is like the exact opposite of demonstrating displeasure in any way, shape or form!"

"Now, now girls. Not this argument again." Sakura's mother slid a tray of steaming mugs and a mound of cookies onto the table, neatly defusing what was obviously an old argument. "Here, Kura-kun, this one's for you. It has cinnamon."

"Yum!" Sakura scooped up the proffered cocoa and took a careful sip. Ino and Hinata collected their own mugs and quiet, friendly chatter settled over the kitchen as the three consumed their treat.

Eventually, Hinata, eating the last of her cookie, brought the subject up again. "I don't see what's wrong with the bouquets. Surely even the criminally stupid understand nine orange lilies… o-or s-something like that." She trailed off and ducked her head, face flushing.

"No, no, that's a good point. I guess it works for some people, it jusst sheems…" Sakura swayed in her seat, then threw a suspicious glare at her empty mug. "Mom! You shaid you wouldn' drug me any morr!"

"Yes, and you said you'd get eight hours of sleep daily. These sorts of things go both ways darling." Asami said calmly from her place at the counter. "I doubt there's a day this week that you've gotten more than five."

"Nnnng." Sakura pressed her knuckles to her forehead, concentrating fiercely through the drugged fog. It wasn't so much that she had something against sleep, and she _was_ very, very tired, but she still had so much to do! The strength technique, the clinic with Hana-sensei, her own studies and training... she had so little time. She managed to find the chemical in her bloodstream, and began breaking it down, but didn't get very far before sleep claimed her. Her last thought, somewhere between annoyed and grateful, was that she was going to be asleep for about ten hours. Oh well.

Ino drained her own mug and calmly picked up the dropped thread of the conversation. "I think what Sakura was going to say is that the Haruno's don't really DO subtle. Case in point."

"I-I can see that." Looking thoughtfully at her friend's limp form as her mother pressed an tender, loving kiss to the candy-pink hair, the Hyūga heiress decided that, despite training to the contrary, sometimes subtle wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

One of Sakura's many uncles carried her to her room, and Ino walked Hinata home to the Hyūga compound. She was scarcely inside the door before her father found her.

"Hinata. Where were you today?"

Hinata immediately, almost involuntarily, shrunk inside her oversized jacket. "I-I met Yamanaka Ino in the n-n-n-northwest meadow, and we t-talked for a while, th-then I sparred with H-haruno Sakura. Th-then w-w-we h-had hot c-chocolate and cookies a-at Haruno House."

Hiashi gave a slight nod. "Very well. Goodnight, Hinata." Did he look approving? Reproving? She couldn't tell.

After stammering out her own leave-takings, the shy girl hastily retreated to her own room for the night. The Hyuga compound had few secrets; when you have an entire clan capable of seeing though walls, trained in the minutia of body language and intrigue, it's foolish to think you can keep secrets in the first place. In the contrary way of human beings, the Hyuga jealously guarded their hearts, and rarely spoke openly of the things that mattered. As to the consequences of these iron faces and shuttered mouths, a young girl going to bed uncertain of if her only parent loved her was only one of them.

xxxxx

Author's note:

Wow, Hi everybody. I have to say I'm incredibly flattered and surprised by the number of people who've subscribed, reviewed, etc. Thanks so much! It turns out that I love reviews; I hug them and cuddle them and read, and re-read and re-re-read them until they drop dead of exhaustion, so thanks _especially_ for the reviews! I hope you enjoy my story.

Also, a weird-rambling-thing-I wrote-late-at night-and-ended-up-really-liking-and-so-re-worked-it-into-an-omake. Please enjoy it too.

xxxxx

Hindsight 20/80 Omake

"Sure, and the third girl can referee, how's that sound?" Ino responded easily, turning her nearly luminescent smile on her new friend. "Do you and Sakura want to go first, Hinata-chan?"

Sakura spared a brief moment to envy her friend's effortlessly graceful lounging and super-model-in-the-making looks before she reminded herself that girls who want to learn how to smash boulders don't have time to practice the kinds of things that came naturally to girls like Ino.

Instead, she just smiled at Hinata, who was dainty and graceful and looked like a priceless porcelain doll. There were flowers in the basket nearby, looking as fresh and lovely as their abductors.

_**And why am I thinking these things all of a sudden?**_

"Don't go easy on me."

A laugh like bells "I think everyone learned from what happened to Uchiha-san."

Hinata's movements were elegant and precise as she moved into the ready position, and even the strange lattice of the bulging veins of the Byakugan didn't take away from that quiet, centered beauty.

Ino flowed from her seat on the rock and sashayed over. "Okay, girls I'm the ref. No maiming, no killing, no weapons. Have fun!" A saucy wink of a dazzlingly bright eye assured them she was kidding. Sakura felt grimy and unkempt and wanted to hide from this sudden beauty her eyes had been opened to; (maybe because the two were so different and so lovely at the same time, highlighting and complimenting each other, maybe that's why she's seeing this now,) but strong girls don't hide, and while she may not be powerful yet, Sakura will never permit herself to be weak.

So she moved into the ready position and ran a quick check to make sure her other line of thought had been focused on fighting while this one was tied up in strange, faint jealousies over what she was not, and could not be. Kunoichi could be pretty _after_ they were strong, because no one made a pretty corpse.

She stowed the thoughts away, like sweeping dust under a rug, and instead concentrated on trying fruitlessly to get past Hinata's defense.

_**I don't even know why I thought it in the first place.**_


End file.
